Mobile In-store Payment Options: MasterCard Masterpass Vs. Bitcoin…

Traditional financial solutions are struggling to keep up with innovation these days. Even payment giants such as Mastercard, are finding it difficult to come up with new features. Removing digital payment barriers to boost mobile payment adoption is not an easy task. Now that Masterpass has been released, fast and secure payments can be made. But it is still a far cry from what Bitcoin has to offer.

Mastercard Masterpass Shows Promise For Mobile Payments

What Mastercard Masterpass does is to let consumers make fast and secure digital payments, both in an offline and in-store fashion. The company is the first network to deliver such an omnichannel approach to the payment industry. Moreover, the sole focus on digital is quite significant for a credit card issuer.

Thanks to a collaboration with multiple banks – including Citi and BoA – consumers can use bank apps on their mobile devices to complete payments. Instead of download proprietary apps, they can use whatever they have installed on their phone or tablet already. This could be a significant booster for mobile payment adoption, which remains in a slum despite the fierce competition.

The Masterpass project has been around for quite some time now, but it was focused on in-app and online purchases up until last week. The addition of in-store payment support is significant, albeit it remains to be seen if merchants will flock to this new solution. According to Mastercard, the solution is supported across 77 countries and over 5 million brick-and-mortar locations.

One downside to Mastercard Masterpass is how it can only be used by owners of an Android device. That is, assuming their smartphone has a built-in NFC chip. Since Apple doesn’t allow other parties to use this proprietary NFC chip, Masterpass will not be supported on these devices. It is only normal the company will push its Apple Pay solution.

While mobile device usage is on the rise, payments made with these devices are not following the same trend just yet. It is a convenient option for the younger generations, but everyone else often seems to forget the option is there. While experts expect the number of mobile purchases to triple throughout 2016, there is still a long way to go before calling this a mainstream solution.

Bitcoin Is Still A Better Solution For All Parties

Unlike Masterpass, Bitcoin can be used on all types of mobile devices. Regardless of whether one uses an Apple, Android, or Windows Mobile device, Bitcoin wallets are available for every important operating system. Moreover, they allow for instant payments as well, without relying on the banking system or third-party providers to complete transactions.

What makes Bitcoin unique in the [mobile] payment world is how the transaction fees are paid by the sender, rather than the recipient. This is quite significant for merchants, as they always bear the brunt of transaction fees using traditional payment options. Adoption of Bitcoin by merchants remains limited for now, but that situation may change at any given time.

Source: Tech Times

Header image courtesy of Shutterstock

About JP Buntinx

JP is a freelance copywriter and SEO writer who is passionate about various topics. The majority of his work focuses on Bitcoin, blockchain, and financial technology. He is contributing to major news sites all over the world, including NewsBTC